Android

TL;DR Google has updated the Play Store listing for the Googlebook ‘Desktop Camera’ app. The listing includes a new app icon that follows Google’s new gradient app icon design. It also showcases the app’s UI and outlines its key features. Google announced the new Googlebook platform at I/O 2026, and we’ve already seen several leaks over the last couple of months, including that of a Play Store listing for a “Desktop Camera” app that will likely be the camera app for upcoming Googlebook devices. Back when it was first spotted, the listing was fairly bare-bones, but Google has now updated it with new screenshots and a list of features the app will support.

The new Pixels are finally here: Google took the wraps off the Pixel 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro XL, and 11 Pro Fold last week. Highlights of the series include a new sort of notification indicator called HiLight, iterative improvements to imaging and charging, and higher base storage across the board. Of course, the series also introduces some new colorways — and this year, Google’s Pro phones are unusually vibrant. It’s typically been the case that higher-end phones like Apple and Google’s Pro models and Samsung’s Ultra flagships tend to come in more subdued colors than their more affordable counterparts. You can get last year’s vanilla Pixel 10 in deep blue or sharp yellow-green finishes, for example, while the Pixel 10 Pro is available in white, gray, black, or a pastel green.

Credit: C. Scott Brown / Android Authority TL;DR An Android Authority teardown has revealed that Google’s Scam Detection feature could come to vivo phones next. This would be the third Android phone maker to offer Scam Detection smarts, following Google and Samsung. Scam Detection uses on-device AI during phone calls to detect potential scammers. Google’s Scam Detection technology can warn you of potential scams during phone calls. This feature has been available on Pixel phones for a while now, but it’s since arrived on the Samsung Galaxy S26 series. Now, we’ve uncovered evidence that this tech is likely coming to another Android phone maker. You’re reading an Authority Insights story. Authority Insights brings you all the latest exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage from the Android Authority team that you won’t find anywhere else.

TL;DR Google is working on a new AI-powered “Battery Usage Summaries” feature for Pixel devices. It will use Gemini Nano for on-device analysis of battery usage patterns and also offer tips to improve battery life. The feature will include only apps actively used in the last 14 days and will exclude system apps from its analysis. It seems phones are getting bigger batteries every year, yet it’s still hard to know exactly how long your phone’s battery will last. While most phones, including Pixels, have a battery usage section, it’s basically just a generic graph showing battery drain. However, Google seems to be working to make the battery health section on Pixel devices more useful and easier to understand. You’re reading an Authority Insights story. Authority Insights brings you all the latest exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage from the Android Authority team that you won’t find anywhere else.

I’ve seen a few of my colleagues ditch Duolingo over recent years, and I can’t blame them. Over the past year alone, Duolingo has changed the goalposts for free users by introducing the energy system, then reshuffling the courses in a way that irked many people. Even before those changes, many users found the UI to be annoying and over-gamified. I’m much more forgiving, but I was curious to find out if Gemini could finally wrestle me free of my extensive Duolingo streak, which is now somewhere between an achievement and a hostage situation. I’m not setting out to trash the infamous green owl — it gets angry enough if you just miss a lesson. As I explained last year, having used Duolingo daily for years and amassed a monster streak, I still find it a useful learning tool despite its many flaws. But I live in Mexico, and having reached an intermediate level in Spanish, I feel like Duolingo has taken me as far as it can. Handy as it can be as a refresher, it’s repetitive and not particularly well-suited to real-life scenarios. Worst of all, it can’t adapt to my own personal circumstances, such as my particular weaknesses and the type of Spanish I want to learn.

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority TL;DR Android 17 QPR 2 Beta 3 introduces a SIM security timeline to track and store records of modem-detected threats, such as IMEI/IMSI access by the cell network. A new SIM security info screen outlines active encryption ciphers across calls, SMS, emergency alerts, and data streams. We’ve also spotted new notifications that would alert users to a wider variety of cellular attacks, such as DoS, jamming, imprisonment, downgrade, and location tracking attacks. Google released Android 17 QPR 2 Beta 3 over the weekend, and with it, the company is significantly beefing up defense mechanisms for cell networks. Google first introduced the “Mobile Network Security” feature in Android 16, and the latest Android 17 QPR 2 Beta 3 release upgrades it to include a tracking timeline, cipher encryption details, and a broader array of cellular attack warnings. You’re reading an Authority Insights story. Authority Insights brings you all the latest exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage from the Android Authority team that you won’t find anywhere else.

Credit: Mitja Rutnik / Android Authority TL;DR Anthropic has revealed how Claude’s text watermark system will work. Watermarks are used as Claude makes “low-stakes” choices between the words it will generate. Anthropic claims that the system doesn’t affect the content or quality of generated text, doesn’t leave hidden characters, and doesn’t need extra tokens. Google and OpenAI have adopted SynthID watermarks for images generated by their AI models. This allows people to find out whether that shared image is the real deal. Generated text is a different story, though. However, Anthropic announced last week that Claude can add watermarks to generated text, and it’s now revealed more details about the system. Anthropic explained in a blog post that Claude’s text watermark system is based on the SynthID-Text solution published by Google DeepMind. It adds that the watermark system isn’t visible to readers, doesn’t have a “practical” impact on content or quality of generated text, doesn’t have hidden characters, doesn’t require extra tokens, and can’t be traced to a specific person/organization/chat.

TL;DR Google is working on a new “Connectivity health” feature for Pixel devices. It will identify issues with mobile data connectivity, calls, and Wi-Fi. It will also help users fix identified issues with step-by-step instructions. Google offers plenty of options for running self-diagnostics on Pixel phones. Whether you’re experiencing touch issues or Bluetooth connectivity problems, your Pixel can help with step-by-step troubleshooting. Now, it seems Google is planning to make it easier for users to diagnose and fix common issues with mobile data, calls, and Wi-Fi on their Pixels. You’re reading an Authority Insights story. Authority Insights brings you all the latest exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage from the Android Authority team that you won’t find anywhere else.

Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Google seems to be still working on its long-awaited double-tap-to-lock feature for Pixel phones. Newly updated strings in Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3 point to dedicated settings for enabling or disabling the gesture. The feature still isn’t officially available, but it looks like Google is already working towards making it more useful. Google may finally be getting ready to give Pixel users a much better way to turn off their phone’s screen without reaching for the power button.

Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3 has been released with the new Quick Settings layout editor, more granular theming controls, expanded blur effects, and improved multitasking controls for foldables. Google is also adding new protections against call-forwarding scams by restricting apps from triggering call-forwarding USSD codes and requiring confirmation when users dial them manually. The update also fixes crashes in Quick Settings and incorrect battery health warnings. Google has released Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3 over the weekend, giving Pixel owners another preview of the next major quarterly Android update. The latest build adds several user-facing changes, including the new Quick Settings layout editor, more granular theming controls, expanded blur effects, and improvements to multitasking on foldables.

Almost every morning plays out the same in my home. Eggs for breakfast, and then a pour-over coffee that goes straight into the insulated Fellow Carter mug so I can stretch the flavors out for eternity. And while doing that, I read. It used to be all over the place. I called it multi-pronged research. News websites, Threads, YouTube, Mastodon, Google News—you name it. But I soon got tired of all the noise. The incessant scrolling, jumping through sources, avoiding pop-up ads. The coffee was done, but I was none the wiser. So yet again, I went back to RSS, just as I’ve done for over a decade now.

Smartphones have undoubtedly improved over the last decade, with more powerful chipsets, robust software support, and better battery life. However, just because the trend moved in the right direction doesn’t mean some valuable features weren’t left behind. More than just nostalgia, legacy features we’ve lost made past smartphones more versatile than their modern equivalents. It may be easy to dismiss many of the items I’m going to list, but 2026 has been a different year. We’ve seen numerous phones with physical keyboards, and the Pebble Time 2 proves purpose-built tech still has a place, and that not every device has to be for everyone.

I have a Google One subscription, so I get more than the standard 15GB of free storage on my Google Account. However, this doesn’t mean I want to spend even more on a service I only started using because Google promised unlimited free storage for compressed images. As I watched my storage quota pass the halfway mark for my current 100GB plan, I decided it was time to take action. But Google doesn’t exactly make it easy to manage your Google Photos images and videos. Besides bulk deletion and compression, you mostly have to sort through your files yourself.

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority Chrome gets a lot of flak for falling behind other popular browsers in terms of features. And yes, some of that criticism is fair. But there’s also a long list of Chrome features most people never touch, simply because they’re buried in an experimental menu called “flags.” These are all features that Google hasn’t officially shipped yet, but they’re there if you want to try them. And while some of them aren’t worth your time or just too technical to bother with, there are a few that fix some of the most annoying browsing problems.

Every year, consumers are pressured into upgrading from last year’s phone to this year’s. With the launch of the Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro owners are now feeling this squeeze. I’ll admit, Google’s alluring marketing and promise of progress are tempting. Wanting the latest and greatest product isn’t intrinsically a negative desire. But Android makers are struggling to deliver a steady stream of annual advancements, and this crunch is starting to show. There’s almost no more blood to be squeezed from this stone.

No matter what Android phone you use, navigating the Settings app can often feel tedious. Sure, you can use the built-in search to look up a setting directly, but it isn’t effective until you type the right keyword, which isn’t always possible. If you use a Samsung Galaxy phone, though, there’s a nifty trick to make your frequently used settings more accessible. It involves creating shortcuts for your most-used settings and using them whenever you want to visit their page in the Settings app. I’ve been using it on my Galaxy S26 Ultra for a while, and it’s saved me a lot of hassle every day.

The only thing better than having a great yard to hang out is not having to spend half your free time maintaining it. Today we go beyond setting up an automatic sprinkler or hiring the neighbor’s kid to do some work; today we can deploy robotics to do the job. The Airseekers Tron () is a capable robot lawn mower that cuts and mulches, for a totally hands-off experience, but there are a few drawbacks to this beast of a mower that keep it from challenging the best in the business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKVHYtQlCb8 The Google Pixel 11 series is finally here, and there’s a lot to be excited about. All four phones get the Tensor G6 chipset, Gemini Intelligence, and a raft of other software features. Google’s new phones also have intriguing camera additions like Magic Capture and Camera Looks. Unfortunately, you’re missing out on a lot more camera features if you opt for the base Pixel 11 over the Pixel 11 Pro or Pro XL.

Google unveiled the Pixel 11 series last week, powered by its new Tensor G6 processor. And, in typical Google fashion, it’s surprisingly light on the details of its latest flagship silicon, just as it was with the Tensor G5 and last year’s Pixel 10 series. Still, we know quite a bit about the Tensor G6, both from Google’s own claims and from what it conspicuously left unsaid. The result is a chip that looks less interested in chasing Qualcomm and Apple on raw CPU and GPU performance, and more focused on AI, efficiency, and security.

Credit: Stephen Radochia / Android Authority The Motorola Edge (2026) was announced this summer alongside a variety of other Motorola devices. While it’s not the most impressive device in terms of raw processing power, it holds a fairly intriguing camera package and an eye-catching new design this time around. Of course, it’s also a bit expensive for a mid-ranger, with a starting price of $600. Before deciding if Motorola’s latest is the right one for you, you should check out some of the best alternatives to the Motorola Edge as well.

With the launch of the Home Speaker, Google trimmed down its smart speaker and display lineup. The Google Home Speaker costs $99 and replaces the now-discontinued Nest Mini and Nest Audio speakers. If you’re in the market for a new smart home controller compatible with Google Home, the Home Speaker is your cheapest option. However, there’s another $99 smart home controller that is a better addition to your Google Home than the Home Speaker: the second-generation Nest Hub. Google’s second-generation Nest Hub is somewhat of an afterthought in 2026 because of its age. The smart display was refreshed five years ago, but it shouldn’t be written off just yet. Google still sells and officially supports the Nest Hub, and it runs the same Gemini chatbot as the brand-new Home Speaker.

For years, Google’s A-series phones have been my default recommendation for anyone who wants a clean Android experience and a great camera without spending flagship money. The A-series distills much of what makes the full-blown Pixels great into an affordable package. However, with the launch of the Pixel 11, that gap has increased. Look, the Pixel 10a is a solid phone for everyday use, but once you start pushing it beyond the basics, it’s inevitable that you’ll run into its limits. Be it the limited RAM, so-so zoom, or just the overall lower-tier hardware, those trade-offs become harder to ignore the longer you use the phone.

The idea that developers often prioritize Apple’s ecosystem is something we hear all the time, and one of the best examples is Flighty. If you haven’t heard of it, Flighty is widely regarded as one of the best flight-tracking apps on iPhone. Despite years of requests from Android users, myself included, it still isn’t available on Android. Sure, there are plenty of flight-tracking apps on the Google Play Store, but I’ve never found one that delivers the same polished experience as Flighty. Thankfully, that finally seems to be changing.

Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority TL;DR The US is creating a program that lets vetted private companies conduct offensive cyber operations against foreign criminal groups. Operations will require federal approval and supervision, with participating firms potentially putting up at least $1 million in escrow. The policy marks a major shift from the US stance that private companies can defend against hackers but not attack them. If you thought cybersecurity companies were supposed to keep hackers out rather than go looking for a fight, the US government begs to differ. A new presidential memorandum will allow vetted American companies to conduct offensive cyber operations against foreign criminal groups, provided the government calls the shots. As reported by TechCrunch, the Trump administration’s memorandum sets up a federal program under which private companies could conduct both surveillance and disruptive cyber operations against foreign cyber-enabled criminal organizations. The aim is to tackle threats such as ransomware, fraud, and other cybercrimes targeting Americans.

Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR OpenAI is rolling out a ChatGPT feature called “Computer History.” The feature records your activity across websites and apps and turns that data into memories and a timeline that the chatbot can recall. Computer History will be available for Mac users on ChatGPT Pro, Business, and Enterprise. OpenAI recently gave upgrades to its GPT-5.6 models, improving accuracy and reasoning adaptability, while also reducing unnecessary information. On the heels of that rollout, the company is also rolling out an update for ChatGPT. This update will introduce a new feature for the chatbot. The new feature coming to ChatGPT is called “Computer History.” As OpenAI explains, Computer History is an optional feature that’s designed to learn from what you’re already doing. It does this by recording your activity across websites and apps, turning that data into memories and a timeline that the chatbot can recall.